Sunday, September 6, 2015

Once upon a time there were three gates.Big gate was for Poppa Bear.Middle gate was for Momma Bear.Tailgate was for Baby Bear.

On their trek home after a bit of foraging around the countryside, they were Hungry, Tired and Confident. Their world tonight was going to be a peaceful one. Nothing could or would mar their serenity, solitude, THIS evening.......what? It looked as if they'd forgotten to turn out the lights in their kitchen and bedrooms----steveroni

Saturday, September 5, 2015

ARE TOUCHDOWNS EVER BORING?The score was 42-0, Naples High's Golden Eagles on top of a Cape Coral team. Final TD count: NINE, score 63-0At 42-0, the game was only half over! I would have stayed but in a place which has the best cheeseburgers in Naples, I forgot to bring any money, not even $1 for a program. SHEEESH!Thank you Tom High for giving me two tickets, so I had TWO seats to myself (and NO cheeseburger(s). After 51 years as a Naples citizen, I finally got to my first games this year. I believe EVERY older person should attend some of these H.S. games, it brings back some fond memories. Always I've heard myself saying that those early years were hell, alone and lonely, misunderstood, etc., etc. But in reality (which arrives slowly for me!) there had been a truckload of GOOD times.

One of those was playing trumpet in the marching band. The sports guys used to tease me, saying, "Oh! Stevie is not allowed to play football, he might hurt his "pretty little violinist's fingers!" But I loved the trumpet--GAWD!--it was SO much easier to play than a violin. And marching and playing music in 15º temperatures on a Thanksgiving morning. OH, WHAT FUN--smiles! So, Peeps...I need occasions like this night of "boring touchdowns, NINE of them, to remind me that any doom-and-gloom was inside ME, NOT caused by others. It is ever thus!PEACE and LOVE, Peeps,steveroniPhoto below is of the FIRST of nine TD's last night!

Monday, August 17, 2015

That ANYBODY might find interesting what an 82-yr old man fixes himself for breakfast I cannot imagine. But it is the only significant activity of mine so far today--EXCEPT I loaded up a new computer with WINDOWS 10.Into mixing glass: half frozen banana, part of peach, little handfuls of raspberries, blueberries...OH! and three strawberries for flavor. ON TOP of all that I sprinkle my "secret diet" ingredient--OKAY, SINCE YOU ASKED: Chocolate flavored Medifast powder. This...EVERY morning and night. LOTS of water throughout day, Brand Name of water FOLGERS--grin!NOW gotta get out and mow some grass, pull some weeds, install some (about 40) apps on my new "baby" HP, get to an 8 PM meeting at St. John's tonightIt's a SHAME we retired folks have nothing to do all day. Hmmmm!PEACE and LOVE, Peeps

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Heard an old (well, young!) friend was visiting in Weston, FL this week, so I rode over and lunched with him, his lovely young wife and two growing sons. . SO MUCH FUN! The meeting validated my belief that a good friend is one with whom there had been no communication for three years--and yet, when we met, it was as if we had been living next door to each other for these thousand days. Brian Miller is an amazing poet, writer and general wit--met him as a blogging mate about 6-7 years ago.Thank You, God...for allowing me the joy to see again a family (two sons) grow in style, grace, and love. I was their house guest twice in Lynchburg VA (Home of the FABULOUS Liberty University!)Image below is of two friends meeting, noticing how each have changed--grin!

Thursday, July 30, 2015

As wild childhe rode the trails onhorse named “Silver”Yup, as in Hi-HoAfter--still a wild blokefirst of his peersto drink booze, smoke,and enjoy solo sex.

In first grade, engagedin the second, it was said...he wed.Skip many yearsthousands tears.Bodies, hearts,bloodied, broken,mended not...One fine morningin strange cityafter playing several dayswith chic kitty,Sadly rode away once more.Silver now had two wheelsupon which he soared,leaving behind a sweetness.Into mobile he mouthed“I wish to come back.”She--”Where do you live?”“In the south”, spoke he.“Sir, turn your bike around, face the southern sun.And RIDE, Clyde—RIDE!Never you roam from home.”Wild child no more rode 'til his ass was sore.In every life, strife...In decision, indecision.AH! Those turning points--which way to go?To the north a cliffstraight down to hell?Kept on keeping on.Still sober in OctoberTo face sun's heat...and more.True lifeis of the soul--not of self, now oldas chunk of mold.Former deviant,my body a gift which GOD had sent;a thing borrowed...and lent....steveroni2011

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Now that it is Friday, I am particularly glad to be home, for it is my night to attend a small meeting at "detox". This is a locked area of room-and-board in Naples where people go to slowly have removed from their bodies whatever they were using to make themselves 'feel good' (Detoxification!).Average stay is usually 4-6 days, and so if I see any of them more than once it would be at an AA meeting, or when I pick them up to go to a meeting. A guy asked me this morning (at 6:30 AM) "Why do you take meetings to Detox--after you've been sober 35 years?"Good question! "I really don't know. I've stopped asking 'Why' about AA work. It's simpler to just do it, whatever it is."(LATER, to myself) Wait! I DO know why I feel drawn to detox for a meeting. That is where it seems to begin, for some. For me, I need to observe that beginning stage of "soberism". Many years of sobriety can create a tendency to become distant from "What it was like".Sure, I attend usually two meetings a day, Big Book, Step, and Tradition meetings each week. Even with some service work, I still find that NOTHING brings my chronic, fatal disease so close to home--to reality--as meeting those suffering their first days and nights in a Detox unit.This is where the hair of the bow meets the violin strings. WITHOUT that 'meeting' there will be no music played. THAT'S why I feel blest to be allowed to share my Experience, Strength and Hope with newcomers.At Detox tonight were 6 patients, and six of us from outside. Of the incarcerated six, two slept, one said he never had a drink in his liar--oops, I meant LIFE! And three seemed as if they thought we'd meet again.After the meeting--outside--the six of us (I recall Megan and Alma and Jerry) shared another thought--we knew we had been where we were supposed to be for that hour tonight! Thank You, God. Thank you, AA. Thank you, Blogger Peeps!In love and service,Steve E

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

by Anthony De Mello is less about acquiring, more about "letting
go", ALL about love. Several of us meet each Tuesday or Wednesday at Starbucks for a
read-and-study session of this wisdom of “Letting Go”.

I
love what this book has taught me and others, defining what love IS
and what it is NOT. And OH! How wrong I--and others-- have been! In fact, I SO believe in the message this small book contains, that I keep two
of them (new) in my bike trunk for many months. (SOME day, I'll be inspired to bestow ownership on someone else.)

The
scene this morning...We sit outside. I am the last one to leave our
small group this morning about 9:15 AM. My bike starts nice, helmet
on, ready to go....and a car pulls up RIGHT IN FRONT of me. Immediately I'm having bad thoughts, as a girl gets out of car to go into Starbucks, and
she and the driver have me locked in the prison of a parking space. UGH!

What
happens next, she walks in front of her car, and stoops down to
pick up something, then walks over to me and hands me my treasured
book, which I must have dropped--”The Way To Love”.

Only
moments before we guys were reading in De Mello that, “...love is an attitude, a
disposition (and) this kind of love radiates outward to the world of
things—and persons.”

I wait for the “girl” and her
companion to park and walk past my bike. I climb off and hand her a new, clean
copy of the book. She seems overjoyed! We shall never cross paths again.

In closing this short story
I MUST write, “There is NOTHING on earth which contributes more to
a joyous heart than to have given a gift...anonymously.”

(I
tried to relate this blip of a happening without pride, real or
false. Hope it worked—I'll never know!)

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

THIS IS HOW WE LIVE AND LEARN...or is it "learn...and LIVE?"--a short story. Young man came into a meeting last night, his first in three weeks! Always the "quiet one"...sober a couple months. He sat there for the hour meeting and he who never says a word, began to speak:

"I listen to what you people tell me, but...two nights ago I had dinner with my girlfriend. SHE ordered for herself a margarita, and for me a nice Lowenbrau (beer). I stared at the bottle of beer for how long I don't know, was ready to reach out and quell my fire, when I heard the words.

"It was a story in our Big Book, about a sober guy who felt so strong, and "healed" that he ordered a scotch to dump into his milk. Then one more, because the first went down fine. He was found three weeks later in a trash can in New York...and woke up in a hospital."Few sentences after that story was a line which read, 'An alcoholic...will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge...'"Well, I want you people to know I thought about all that, and just reached out and pushed that beer away." (End of story)Some will know of what I write. Others will not but I experienced a strong pushing feeling to get it out there on my blog. It's called "live and learn"...I call it "learn...and LIVE!" (I did!)(NOTE: I've changed a few facts to avoid copyright problems, and breaking of anonymity, but the conversation is intact.)--steveroni May 13, 2015

SPLAT!!!

Ces Adorio, Artist, Writer, Researcher, Landscaper

Humpty Dumpty Unknowingly Playing His Farewell Sonata One Hour Prior To Sitting On The Wall. 8"x10" archival ink on 11"x14" Bristol board

IN THE ENDonly three things matter:

How much you lived,

how gently you loved,

how gracefully you let go of

things not meant for you

--Buddha

About Me

Naples, Florida, United States

Naples, Florida, United States
This...so you know me a little, then either stay as a friend or leave the room quietly--grin! Steve E, Sober 41 years. Married to Anna, Born May 25, 1933, raised on farm near Cincinnati, Ohio. Living in Naples FL since 1964. My blog-goal is to write what I think, feel, observe, live, what I've learned and even more--UNLEARNED. I like to write poetry. Since I do not know how, I'm not bound by rules, traditions. Naturally I'll write about my recovery as an alcoholic/addict. Also my purpose is to spread some happiness, because that is what I AM...most of the time. HAPPY, JOYFUL, FREE and at PEACE! And that is my wish for YOU TOO!